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ELKANA, WEST BANK —Israeli settlers are voicing concern after the United States announced a travel ban on settlers suspected of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
At the Elkana settlement, which is home to more than 4,000 Israelis, there is concern that the U.S. measure may punish people who say they are simply defending themselves.
Afik Mansour, a young Israeli resident of Elkana, said that if a settler hurts an Arab, in most cases there is a reason for it - such as a personal or social harm.
Mansour said incidents sometimes come out of anger or nerves about situations that have occurred in the past.
On Dec. 5, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a travel ban would be placed on Israeli settlers described as "extremist" who are suspected of committing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
It is not clear how U.S. authorities will decide who is not eligible for admission.
Rights groups say the number of Palestinian fatalities caused by settlers has doubled since Israel's war against Hamas started in October.
The United States has been putting pressure on the Israeli government to stop violence by Israeli settlers.
The settlement of Elkana was established in 1977 on land seized from a Palestinian village called Mas-ha.
Today, the settlement has modern apartment blocks, villas, supermarkets, and a strip mall where Israeli settlers go about their daily lives.
Israeli settlers are defined as those who have established residences in territories that Israel occupied after the 1967 Six-Day War, including in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. According to the U.N., up to 700,000 settlers now live in the West Bank, illegally, under international law.
Palestinians often accuse the settlers of taking land from them by force, and violent clashes between the two sides are frequent.
Esti Nadav, an Israeli shopping for Hannukah festival decorations in Elkana with her children, said she thinks that violent people should not be allowed to enter certain places.
The question, she asked, is how does one know which settlers are violent? This is very important, she said, because innocent people may end up being denied entry to the United States.
Another settler, who gave her name only as Emilia, said she is angry about the visa ban.
She said Jewish settlers are the victims of slander sometimes. The left is looking for a narrative and is trying to slander the people in the settlements, she said.
She said she does not understand how the U.S. has decided to ban some Israelis while granting entry to Syrian refugees.
According to the U.N., 26 Israeli. and at least 200 Palestinian fatalities have occurred due to violence in the West Bank this year.
Some Israeli settlers are U.S.-born with dual citizenship and do not require visas to travel to the United States.